Tag Archives: NYC

Space Invaders Are Everywhere

As you can see, CCTV cameras are completely useless at spotting Space Invaders.

I’ve found very few of Space Invader’s creations here in NYC, though found evidence of at least one having been stolen. The artist photographed the same Invader in 2000; the neighborhood has changed quite a bit

Old Town Bar on E. 18th St. Celebrates Urinal Birthday

Old Town Bar, est.1892, celebrated the 100th birthday of its classic Hinsdale urinals on November 1. Yes, you just realized that the bar existed for 18 years before it had urinals.

Aside from a public viewing (men and women, natch) and a written tribute, the Hinsdale urinals got a special letter from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

I was in the middle of a NYC-NJ-PA-NYC-YVR mission, or I’d have been all over this.

Monday nights festivities, which are open to the public, will also include a urinals “viewing opportunity” for the ladies. Female customers “now and then” express interest in seeing the Hinsdales, according to Mr. Meagher.”What are you talking, Now and then?” sniffed Chip Sylvester, the Old Towns bartender. “All the time.”

Secret Sandwiches: NYC Rewards Locals

Are a New York City local? Is that right? Are you sure? In other words… do you know if your favorite eatery has hidden menu items? Culinary easter eggs, as it were?

Well, the secret sandwiches and hidden snacks are out there, waiting for you to discover and enjoy them. Thrillist outlines a few of the (no longer) secret menu items that lurk in NYC’s culinary corners and gastronomic alleyways.

Grilled Cheese Dealer: Exploring the Mysterious World of Grilled Cheese Sandwich Delivery in New York City

When people buy drugs in New York City, they call a number (back in the day it was a pager), and a dealer would rock up with whatever you ordered. Or so I’m told.

One entrepreneur is taking that business model (and it’s clearly a viable one, as the practice persists) and applying it to a more legal mood-altering substance: the grilled cheese sandwich. His name is Ronnie, and he’s a grilled-cheese dealer.

Ronnie receives a text message from a client, and then delivers a $5 grilled cheese sandwich. That’s it.

How do you get Ronnie’s number? Through someone who has ordered from him before. This is the NYC illicit delivery scene: this is no Yellow Pages operation.

Ronnie’s business isn’t exactly legal, since he doesn’t have a restaurant license. That’s his next step, though.

The MTA released its 2011-2014 financial plan (PDF), and it’s a shocker. Take that how you will. Basically, the Fun Pass is slated for execution, since hardly anybody uses it.

The biggest change would be the Monthly Pass: $99 will only get you 90 rides, or three rides per day. That’s the opposite of unlimited. Another option would be to hike the price by $5 to keep it unlimited.

The biggest O_o moment was reading that it costs the MTA 15¢ to collect each $1 in revenue. At that point, rider behavior ceases to be the issue, and the MTA must deal with how it does what it does.

While they’re at it, the MTA should look into fixing the stinky waterfall that pours through Canal Street Station every time it rains.

While excavating the World Trade Center site, workers found the skeleton of an 18th-century sailing ship.

Yes, I know you just thought of The Black Rock from Lost, and wondered if there was dynamite inside. There wasn’t. The ancient ship was found in an area of the WTC site that had not previously been dug up: had it been in either of the Twin Towers’ footprints, it would have been found already.

This wasn’t the first ancient ship found on dry land in Manhattan, strangely enough: another one was found beneath Water Street (duh) in 1982.

In the middle of tomorrow, a great ribbed ghost has emerged from a distant yesterday.

David Dunlap at the New York Times wrote that and then sat back with his arms crossed. He chose that line because “You got some Arzt on you” was already taken.

If you’ve seen the recent AT&T ad, you’ve probably noticed the remarkable resemblance of those orange-draped landmarks to the Christo and Jeanne-Claude installation The Gates, which stood in NYC’s Central Park.

You’re not alone. AT&T had to put a disclaimer on the ad stating that Christo and Jeanne-Claude were not involved(yeah, we know), but that really only draws attention to the obvious, doesn’t it? It’s impossible that nobody working in a professional capacity at an ad agency would not have heard of Christo and Jeanne-Claude

You be the judge: here’s the ad, and below that is a photo of The Gates, which I took in February 2005.

Zoomdoggle has a vaguely 2002-sounding dot-com name, but offers hundreds of fun things to do in New York City. NYC is easily among the most exciting places in the world, but, if you’ve lived there for a few years, you can fall into a rut just as if you lived somewhere a bit less world-class .

Hopefully you don’t have to go through that, and this free .pdf download could be your ticket out of Rutsville, NY. There are some stellar suggestions on the list, such as a tour of the Steinway piano factory, Pintchik Oracle (wish I knew about that!) and Open House New York (which is amazing).

Either way, don’t forget to look up like a tourist from time to time. If nothing else, you’ll probably wind up with rosier cheeks, even in the off-season. How fun is that?

I ended up cutting my own hair for years in order to save precious pocket change with which to enjoy the tiny pockets of awesome that can be found the city. There was a shop in the East Village (whose address I can’t remember) that had a tiny art vending machine. Little handmade objects for two bucks. The other use for Sacajawea dollars besides the subway ticket machines.